It Could Just be the Bass Line
by kohakublah
Summary: Someway, somehow - whether or not we believe in destiny, fate, magic, or any of that jazz - we somehow end up in the arms of the person who's arms you know were meant for you. Unexpectedly, Jack and Tooth met the person that was going to inspire them for the rest of their lives. Each other.
1. Chapter 1

**The song that inspired this fic is 'Artful ft. Kal Lavelle - Could Just Be The Bassline (Kolendo Remix)'. I just thought I'd do a quick, AU one-shot Jack/Tooth story for Christmas since I'm obsessed with them. Enjoy and Happy Holidays! **

* * *

"B-but why that dress? What about that gorgeous ballroom dress your mother got for you especially for this occasion?" asked Toothiana's mother's little helper, Baby Tooth.

"Oh Baby Tooth," Toothiana sighed frustrated, looking at a shorter, more informal party dress.

Just before, Toothiana and her mother, The Tooth Fairy herself, had gotten into a bit of a quarrel. Her mother insisted she present herself more like a princess, but Toothiana was more interested in things like sword fighting, adventure and being out in the field! Toothiana had planned to wear a less formal dress to the Christmas party her mother was throwing. Her mother wouldn't dare to yell at her to change in front of all the guests.

Toothiana was right. Her mother did not yell at her. Though, the expression on her face when she saw her daughter walk out in a less-than-knee-length party dress that made her look like she was ready to go out and drink martinis at a high-class bar was priceless. Toothiana had to stop herself from laughing at her mom's horrified look. Her silent rebellion had succeeded so far.

Toothiana sat with her legs crossed and her cheek leaning against her fist as she watched all of the guests partner up and dance. When it's you that sits alone and watches everyone look lovingly into each other's eyes, a couple's dance seems much less romantic. Her mother seemed a little pleased with her boredom. "Maybe someone would ask you to dance if you didn't look like you were planning on going clubbing like some humans do," her mother said to her as she got up from her chair to go dance with her husband, "Sorry you're so bored, dear." Her mother looked sincerely at her, and then turned away. Toothiana scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Please Mother," she said to herself, "No one would ask me to dance anyways."

There was some unrest among the dancers. Toothiana noticed quickly and jerked her head up over the crowd to see what had everyone so twitchy and mistrusting. A boy with hair as white as snow and pale skin had walked in. He wore a mascaraed mask with a feather in it. He looked rather silly in comparison to everyone, because he looked – for all intents and purposes – like a human. There were no feathers, no wings, and he was dressed just as informally as Toothiana, if not worse. He had on a dress jacket over his blue hoodie – which looked really nice in Toothiana's eyes – and dress pants and shoes. There were gorgeous, intricate frost patterns at certain areas of his clothing. She reeled herself back in before she fell out of her chair trying to get a good look at him. He was ignored for the most part. Though, many of the people probably wondered why Nicholas St. North's Yetis – who were providing security for the party – had let him in.

He walked slowly past Toothiana, and it nearly killed her. She couldn't help but look his way, hoping to see his face up close, but when she did he would catch her and smirk. After a minute or so passed she looked behind her seat to see if he was at the refreshment table, but he wasn't there. She sighed and turned back around. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw him standing in front of her at the bottom of her throne staring up at her. The blue in his eyes showed piercingly through his festive mask. "Why aren't you dancing?" he asked her, "Are you going to let that pretty dress go to waste?"

Curses. Her heart was pounding out of control. He had such a handsome voice. "I suppose I would dance," she managed to say, praying she didn't sound as nervous as she felt, "if someone wanted to ask me, that is." He smiled at the ground and snickered.

"I'm sure any guy in this room would want to ask you," He looked up at her, "but they're all probably too shy." He walked off a little ways. "I can't really blame them, though," he gestured to her look, "gorgeous women are any normal man's weakness." Toothiana glanced at her mother who had just noticed that the strange boy had approached her. She looked as though she was on the verge of running over and tackling him. This pleased Toothiana. She smiled mischievously at her mother and stood up for the first time during this entire party. She walked down the steps of her throne toward the boy. He grinned at her decent and put his hands in his pockets.

"So," Toothiana started, now more confident than ever - fueled by wanting to irk her mother, but mostly by her curiosity towards this mystery person, "are you implying that you're not a normal man?" She could see his confused yet intrigued look from behind his mask. "You said that any normal man's weakness is a gorgeous woman," Tooth gestured to every woman in the room besides herself, "All of these girls are really beautiful and you're not fazed in the slightest." He laughed at her remark.

"Rest assured that my heart is racing in my chest as we speak, but not because of any of the ladies you've pointed out." He pulled his hands out of his pockets, "I tend to focus on what's in front of me. Plus, with this mask on I have no peripheral vision so that's about all I can do." Toothiana giggled into her hand.

The white-haired boy turned his head when he heard the party's DJ put on a new song. He smiled and turned to her. He took a deep breath and backed up a little, "Princess Toothiana, may I have this dance?" he asked, bowing and holding out his hand. Without hesitation she took his hand and responded, "It would be an honor." Both of them effortlessly ignored the fact that the entire party had come to a standstill and had backed away from them, shocked that the princess had accepted a dance from such a comparatively sloppy looking boy.

He pulled Toothiana close to him. She gazed into his deep blue eyes that were outlined by his detailed mask. She could feel their hearts beating in sync. She laughed to herself. "It could just be the bass line," she thought.

"Don't worry," he said quietly, "the feather isn't real." He was referring to the feather on his mask. Toothiana laughed and closed her eyes and leaned her head on his shoulder. She was strangely comfortable in his arms, and he was actually a great dancer. The cold that his body gave off cooled her face that was hot from blushing. She could feel his lips brush the side of her face and he quietly sang the lyrics of the song into her ear.

"Do you feel that you could love me, and want me more than anybody else?"

She sighed lovingly by his neck; her hot breath against his cold skin made him shiver happily. This moment was unfortunately short lived. Two yetis grabbed the boy away from Toothiana and her parents pulled her back. She smiled as she saw that he wasn't struggling, but still staring mesmerized at her as he was being hauled off. "TOOTHIANA," her mother yelled at her, snatching her away from her dream-like state of mind.

"Wh-what?" Toothiana responded unaware of what exactly happened.

"I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH POOR JUDGEMENT FROM ONE OF _MY _CHILDREN!" her mother was seething with anger. Looking around, Toothiana could see the disapproving looks from all of the guests. Even her father had his hand over his face, ashamed. She shook her head at her parents.

"No. You're the ones with the poor judgment. You don't even know that boy!" she argued.

"And neither do you!" her mother snapped back.

"I don't know half the people at this party!" Toothiana threw her arms out wide and began to walk backward toward the exit. "He just wanted to dance, Mother! I'm sorry you're so SHOCKED that someone wanted to dance with your UGLY, LITTLE daughter that looks like she got ready to go drinking at a bar." She could feel her tears welling up in her eyes. "How can you protect the future of this world if you can so easily shun someone based on something as vain as their look?" With that she turned and ran after the Yetis carrying the boy away. As she stepped into the moonlight she could have sworn she saw the moon smile at her, but she ignored it and slipped off her heels so that she could run faster. She _would _fly, but that would be rather inappropriate in a dress.

The boy was standing in front of the yetis, conversing with them. The yetis shook their heads and he rubbed the back of his neck, laughing. When the yetis saw the princess walking towards them, they nudged him and he jumped when he saw her making her way over to them. "H-hey," he said to her shyly. Toothiana twiddled her fingers and bit her lip slightly.

"I'm sorry about what happened. My mother shouldn't have-" she was cut off by the mystery boy putting his hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright," he said smiling at her. She had never noticed how white his teeth were before. They looked like freshly fallen snow. She was hypnotized by them, and only snapped out of it when she heard him laugh at her. She smiled and placed a hand on his face, then leaned in close to him. She caressed his cold cheek and their lips became dangerously close. The masked boy pulled away quickly, "I really should be… uh… going now." He turned to grab his staff from the yetis.

"Oh, yes, of course," Toothiana sighed sadly. But as he turned back around to her they both looked up as something caught their eyes. There was mistletoe hanging on his staff over the two of them. He turned back around to the yetis to glare at them, "Did you put that on there?!" The yetis had already scurried away. He turned back around and looked at his beautiful dance partner standing close to him, the moonlight shining down on her magnified how pretty everything about her was. From her feathers to her pretty, human face she was radiant. Without any further hesitation he placed his hand behind her head and pressed his lips onto hers. He tilted his head and kissed her deeper, putting his other arm around her back and holding her close to him.

After a moment they pulled apart, and both of their faces were bright red. He cleared his throat nervously and pulled the mistletoe off from his staff. Toothiana laughed at him and folded her arms around herself. "Will I see you again anytime soon?" she inquired.

He shrugged, "Maybe." Toothiana frowned at him.

"Oh," she said, gazing at the ground. He lifted her chin so she was looking at him.

"Hey, I promise I'll come see you again. Soon, okay?" he smiled sincerely at her. "Besides," he tapped his staff twice against the ground, "we still haven't finished our dance." With that, he was swept away by the wind, "Merry Christmas!" he sang as he flew off into the night.

"Merry Christmas," Toothiana giggled as she made her way – unnoticed – to her room to retire for the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Princess Toothiana had already expected the silent treatment she received from her mother. After her dance with that mysterious boy and her little outburst at the Christmas party, there was bound to be friction between them. Her father, however, now that was a different story. Perhaps it was because he was a human himself, or maybe because he was angry with Toothiana for reasons different from her mother's.

"But Dad! I don't understand why mom is so mad at me! It was just one dance!" Toothiana said as her father sat at the edge of her bed, watching his teenaged daughter fly furiously around her room, her wings stirring the air around rapidly.

"Dear, you have to understand," her father started, "Your mother is under all kinds of pressure. The boy hardly looked presentable to her, and you're outburst was a rather embarrassing main event for her party." He rubbed his knees and smiled at his daughter, "My excuse is that I'm your dad, and, well, I don't like any boy you get close to," he laughed to himself, though he was being completely serious. He walked to the door to let himself out and give his daughter time to think. "But I can let that slide. It was _just _a dance."

Tooth paused at her father's words. Uh-oh. She was internally conflicted about whether or not she should lie or admit to kissing the stranger. Now _that _wasn't exactly good judgment.

"Tooth," her father sounded anxious, "It was _just _a dance, right?"

"Well…well of course it was!" Tooth is a terrible liar.

"Tooth!" her father groaned, assuming the opposite of what she said.

"I swear I didn't-" she could feel herself shaking and her face burning red. Her eyes shifted everywhere around the room. She was quite aware that she was a terrible liar.

"Toothiana," her father said, demandingly.

She took a deep breath and cringed, "Well – I – it… there was mistletoe, okay!? I couldn't break tradition!"

"Tooth!" her father whined, "I don't even want to hear about it anymore." With that, he stormed out of the room.

"Oh great," she thought, "My mother will definitely hear about this. "And _then _what will she do?"

* * *

The world darkened around five o'clock on this winter night, and Tooth was stuck lying bored on her bed, wondering if her masked friend might come visit her. He had said 'soon' and it had been a week since then. The knock at her door broke her train of thought.

"Who is it?" she questioned.

"Your mother. May I come in?" Yup. That was her mother's monotone 'I-really-don't-want-to-talk-to-you' voice. Tooth sighed,

"Yes."

Her mother walked in elegantly and glanced around her daughter's room before speaking. "Will you do me a favor and go out in the field tonight?"

Tooth shot up happily and nodded her head with a wide grin.

"Well get ready, you'll be leaving soon," her mother said as she turned and exited the room.

That was one thing Tooth didn't mind when her mother was angry at her. The short, sweet, and to-the-point conversations. She darted to her closet and threw on a hooded jacket that had a mask attached to it in order to protect her from the especially cold weather out tonight. There were also opening in the back for her wings, naturally. The tall golden feather atop her head was the only one to poke out from under her hood. She decided to bring a pair of boots and her swords so that when she was done she could practice with them. That would relieve the week worth of stress she had built up since Christmas. That reminded her – tonight was New Year's Eve. "No wonder Mother needed my help." Tooth thought to herself as she flew out from her window she shivered a bit when she was greeted with the cold, winter air, but she was glad for it. She hadn't been able to stretch her wings like this for a while. This chill was welcomed.

Later on that night, Tooth found herself drawn to the town of Burgess. There was a lower canine tooth that was calling her name. It belonged to a 'Jamie Bennett'. Toothiana grinned; she had been the one to collect every tooth Jamie had lost. He was such a cute kid, and she was glad that she would get to see him again.

She perched quietly on the Bennetts' roof, and slowly worked her way toward Jamie's window. It was nine o'clock at night, but on a rowdy night like this, Tooth needed to be extra careful to check if he was asleep. She was lucky she did check, because Jamie was wide awake. He was also talking to a strange boy who didn't look a day older than Tooth.

It would be logical to assume that it was his older brother, the way they were laughing and teasing each other. But Toothiana knew Jamie; his only sibling was a younger sister. Besides, the boy he was talking to had white hair, in contrast with Jamie's brunette locks. As well as the white hair, the strange teen was wearing a blue jacket with frost decorating it, and worn brown pants.

"Are you gonna go see her again tonight? It's New Years, y'know," Jamie instigated.

His friend chuckled and sounded embarrassed, "Well I…I dunno."

"Don't you want to? And you always come back with the coolest stories!"

"Well of course I want to! Well, we'll see, Kiddo."

"Well when you do go, I was thinkin-"

The boy shushed Jamie and turned toward the window. "Oh no…" Toothiana thought to herself. She had been eavesdropping and her face was practically pancaked onto the window. Startled, and not wanting to be seen she flew back up to the roof. She could hear him go to the window and open it to look outside, but he just closed it when he didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

She decided she would sit on the roof and wait for Jamie to fall asleep. This way, none of the Baby Teeth that were out collecting teeth could claim his tooth. Besides, she had already collected more than her share of teeth for the night. And she was… curious about his friend.

It had taken about half an hour before anything happened. Tooth could hear Jamie's window open, and she shot up attentively. The white-haired stranger hopped on to the roof and approached her.

"Is he asleep?" Tooth asked, her excited smile hidden behind her mask.

"Yeah he's all yours," he answered knowingly, twirling his familiar-looking staff in his hands and gesturing to Jamie's room.

Tooth made her way to Jamie's window once again, and as she passed the blue-eyed boy she glanced at him. She was in awe; he was gorgeous to say the least. The tooth under her little friend's pillow called a bit louder than his masculine chest, though. "Thanks, stranger."

Toothiana slipped the tooth out from under Jamie's pillow and exchanged it with a dollar bill. She pulled her mask away only for a moment in order to kiss his forehead. As she made her way out, she noticed that the handsome stranger had waited for her. Her stomach tightened a bit.

Curse her shyness sometimes.

"Sometimes I think the ability to tell if someone is sleeping is wasted on Santa Claus." Tooth struck up a conversation as she met with the boy. He laughed and nodded. Toothiana couldn't help but to notice his sparkling white smile. Before he could even reply to her, she flew into his personal space and examined his mouth. "Wow! You've got a fantastic set of teeth! I've only ever seen one other pair like it!"

She was, of course, referring to her masked dance partner from Christmas. This struck a chord in her. What if… She backed away a bit and looked down the boy, "Oh. You're barefoot?" she asked curiously. It was cold enough to snow here, isn't he freezing?

He laughed at her very forward examination of him. "Yeah, I never wear shoes."

The chord that was struck in her was cut, "Ever?" He nodded. She was a bit disappointed. Did this mean her hunch was wrong? Probably. What were the chances she would meet her mystery friend like this, anyways? She shook the thoughts away. Maybe this was someone else, and he was friendly enough. Now she was the one wearing the mask. "Who are you?" she asked him cheerfully.

"Jack Frost," he answered with a smile. He was just as curious about her as she was about him. She was spontaneous and has this kind air about her. "What's your name?"

"Tooth. People call me Tooth," She rested her hands on her hips proudly. She didn't lie. People close to her _did _call her Tooth. Unless they were mad at her.

Jack laughed. "I suppose that's a good name for a tooth collecting fairy, but I thought only Baby Teeth actually collected the teeth." Jack scratched the back of his head and looked up at the fairy hovering near him. He wasn't sure if he was prying too much.

"They do. I just help sometimes." As she moved her hand to gesture to the house, it smacked against her swords.

"Can I ask what the swords are for?" Jack gulped. They startled him when he finally noticed them. Did she need them for protection? Against what? Family pets that might try to maul her? Sneaky kids that tried to catch her?

Tooth noticed the disturbed look on Jack's face and huffed. "Geez, calm down. I'm not going to around killing people with it! I was just planning on getting practice with them when-," Tooth paused and looked at Jack with a twinkle in her eye. He couldn't really see her mouth with her mask on, but he could sense she was grinning like a child, the way her eyes squinted and her legs curled against her chest. She grabbed his hand and pulled him forward slightly, "Since you're _the _Jack Frost, maybe you can help me practice!" She tilted her head and her voice became playful, "will you come with me?"

Jack smiled at her. How could he say no to _THAT? _"Sure!" he chimed.

"Great!"

* * *

Tooth brought them to the woods by the Burgess Lake. Her request for Jack to fire icicles at her was refused quite a few times before she finally convinced him she'd be fine. She was tiny and fragile looking. He decided he'd go easy on her first; maybe she was overestimating herself.

Sure enough, every icicle thrown her way, no matter how fast or how large they became, Tooth was able to flawlessly deflect them with her blades.

As she went to slice yet another piece of ice straight down the middle, the last thing she expected was the snowball that came directly at her face immediately after. She blinked the snow out of her eyes. "What was THAT about?!" She opened her eyes to see Jack lying on the ground holding his sides while laughing.

_Oh! Oh he finds this funny, does he? _

She grinned devilishly and waded up a tight ball of snow in her hand. She stopped before she pelted Jack with all her 'fury.' The boy had conjured up quite a lot of snow. It was probably like this all over Burgess now. She wondered if he even realized what had happened; they had been having so much fun. She shrugged and flung the snowball right for Jack as he was attempted to stand up and knocked him back down.

"Oh it is ON!" he laughed, jumping up on his feet. Tooth dug her heels into the snow to hold her footing but it was useless against Jack's endless barrage of snowballs. She got a few good shots in at him, but that was nothing compared to the number he did on her. She was covered head to toe in snow.

She had backed up in order to avoid getting hit as much, but after a while she found herself with her back to the frozen Burgess Lake. Their laughter that rang out through the forest came to a sudden halt when Tooth ran onto the ice to further avoid incoming snowballs.

"STOP!"

Tooth's tightly shut (in order to avoid snow getting in them) eyes flew open when she heard his frightened scream. She barely had enough time to ask him what the problem was, because the wind was knocked out of her as the boy's arms wrapped tightly around her and pulled her off of the lake. For someone so skinny, he was certainly strong. She found herself pressed tightly against his chest; both of them were breathing heavily. When she looked up to yell at him for scaring her she stopped; she noticed the panic in his eyes. He was watching the lake intently, he was scared.

At the same time, the blue in his eyes mesmerized her, and she could see every beautiful detail on his face. Every freckle, every crack in his lips, and every snowflake latched onto his eyelashes.

She cupped his face in her hands. His arms still wrapped around her back. She could feel and see him shaking. "I'm okay, Jack. It's going to be alright." She would have pulled away from him, but she could tell he didn't want her to let go. He needed someone to cling to, someone to hold. Right now, that person was Tooth, and she really didn't mind. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head beside his.

"I- I don't know why I got so scared." Jack managed to say after calming down a bit. They slowly broke their embrace. Tooth hovered in front of him; her hand was rested on his shoulder.

"Are you alright now?"

He nodded and apologized. He couldn't stop himself from getting caught up in her. Her eyes were so big and colorful. And they were loud. They said a million different things to him, and there were a million more things to _see._

Tooth giggled at his star-struck expression. "It's all in the eyes, isn't it? Tell me… what do you see?"

"I've only seen one other pair of eyes quite like yours," his lips curled into a sheepish smile as he cringed at how cheesy that must have sounded to her. Still, he wasn't lying.

"Funny," Tooth tilted her head curiously, "I though the same thing about your… everything."

"I have to ask, have we met before? You remind me of… of … Oh no…" Jack stepped back a ways and looked around anxiously. "I'm sorry, I have to go. I just remembered I had somewhere to be."

"You have someone to meet?" She remembered the bit of conversation between Jack and Jamie that she had overheard.

He nodded and sighed.

"Will I see you again anytime soon?" she inquired.

He shrugged, "Maybe." Toothiana frowned at him.

"Oh," she said, gazing at the ground. He lifted her chin so she was looking at him.

"Hey, I promise we'll hang out again. Soon, okay?" he smiled sincerely at her. "Besides," he tapped his staff twice against the ground, "I haven't finished kicking your butt at our snowball fight." With that, he was swept away by the wind, "Happy New Years!" he sang as he flew off into the night.

Tooth stuck her tongue out at him in response to his comment. As she watched him fly off cheerfully, there wasn't a doubt in her mind as to who he was. She felt silly for having ever considering that he might _not _have been her masquerading friend that stole her heart on Christmas, for when she was close to him, she felt like she was reunited with her heart. The only thing she wanted to know now was whom was he going to meet?

* * *

Tooth sighed she figured now would be a good time to return home. Once she delivered the teeth, she kicked her boots off and set her swords down in her room. After, she pulled on a pair of baggy sweat pants and fluffy slippers. Even with all of her feathers, it was nice to have the extra warmth on. Then, she went to find that perfect spot, nearly at the top of the castle, and watch the midnight fireworks make the world glitter for her.

"5…4…3…2…1," a voice behind her counted out. At the end of their count, the fireworks started and it was now the New Year. Tooth turned around quickly. It was him – wearing the same outfit he wore on Christmas. He walked nonchalantly over to her as she stood up to face him with a smile crossing her face. "I guess I don't need this mask anymore, do I?" he asked lifting his shoulders innocently.

"No, you don't, Jack," Tooth answered.

He laughed as he removed his mask and stowed it away in his Jacket pocket. "Thank God, then, I won't need these monsters either!" he said as he kicked his shoes off. Unfortunately, he kicked them clear off of the building. "Oh-OH! Sorry! I can go-,"

"It's fine. Someone'll get them," she giggled as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm glad you came." Tooth's smile was small, but meaningful. Even though she had _just _technically spent time with him, she had missed him. She felt like she hadn't seen him in years!

"So," he leaned against his staff, "What gave me away today?"

"Well… your hair."

"That's it?!"

"No, not even! Your playful, bright, blue eyes, too." She blushed a little when she realized she said that. She gulped down a knot in her throat before continuing, "But mostly your smile." She knew she would dig herself a grave of embarrassment, but she didn't care. Being with him made her brave – like she was worth something. He was a charming pirate and she was his captive princess. "You have the most amazing teeth I have ever seen. I could never forget them; they sparkle like freshly fallen snow…" she caught herself getting lost in his smile. She stepped back and laughed shyly. She saw his pleased grin. He liked being complimented like this, huh? Now he's probably got a big head.

_I should fix that._

"But also," Tooth said, "it was your hoodie. I mean, do you ever take that thing off?"

"Do you want me to?" he said suggestively as he closed the gap between them.

_Oh God…_

Her cheeks stung with the blood rushing to her face. She stuttered and fumbled words, attempting to reply, but failed miserably.

Jack chortled, "I'm sorry, you just look so cute when you're flustered."

_Cute?_

She smoothed her feathers atop her head shyly at his compliment. Jack was the first to ever really compliment her – besides the expected compliments one receives from their parents. Jack was Tooth's first when it came to a lot of thing. Frist person to ever say she was cute, first real friend, first kiss…

Tooth rubbed her neck and jerked her head a little to motion for Jack to follow her. She sat down and curled her legs to her chest to watch the fireworks. Jack sat down next to her, leaving some distance.

"Why did you come to my mother's Christmas party, anyways? And get past the yetis?" Tooth asked to avoid an awkward silence.

Jack smirked and laughed. "The yetis and I know each other. They lost a bet with me and they got me in," he bit his lower lip slightly, "To be honest I really only came to raid your buffet table."

Tooth laughed into her hand, "That sounds about right."

"Then I saw you, though," he looked at her honestly and his face reddened ever so slightly. "I was in a room with hundreds of feathered people in glorious dresses, living it up like everything outside of the palace never existed. Then, there was you: more casual, and obviously bored. You were suffering, as if everything besides the palace was what really mattered." Jack had inched away at the space between them. Tooth could feel her heart pound to the bass of the music played by the celebrating mortals. "You are the most beautiful person I have ever met," he giggled in relief as he finally shared his heart with her. "Honestly, you can even ask Jamie. I would not shut up about you."

"Beautiful?" Tooth said breathlessly, "No one's ever… said that to me before…" she could feel tears well up in her eyes.

_Crying? Really? At a time like this?_

Tooth jerked away from Jack abruptly and hid her face.

"Oh God…" she whined in her head, "How are you even supposed to react to something like that?!" She brought her eyes back to Jack, who looked quite disheartened.

"If… If you want me to leave, I will… I'm sure you've heard much better advances from princes of rich fairies and not pasty-white, stupid, teenaged-…" he began mumbling countless slurs about himself; he thought he was such an idiot. "Sorry if I offended you, I guess I don't really know how to address a princess."

Tooth scoffed and rolled her eyes at Jack. He took notice and a devastated expression crossed his face, "I don't think I deserve the scoffing though-,"

"Oh you deserved the scoff, alright!"

"Hey-!"

"Darn it, Jack!" Tooth growled as she tugged at her face. She turned to Jack with a mournful look, and shook her head slowly at him. "Of everyone… of all people? You? You're going to be like everyone else and write me off as a loaded princess that looks down judgingly at her subjects?" she tilted her head and crossed her arms, "Really?" She looked away crossly.

"I-," Jack started. He realized there was no argument to be won. She was right. He had somehow ignored everything he had learned about her from their time together and stereotyped her as an excuse for why she turned away from him when he admitted his feelings. "I don't mean that. I just…" he pursed his lips and bowed his head a little, ashamed. He turned to face the fireworks in silence and pulled his good over his head, swearing angrily and himself in his mind.

"Can you be honest with me?" Tooth said to Jack in a low, melancholic voice.

"About what?" he asked, peering out from his good, his white hair poking out sloppily where it could.

"Am I really like that? Do I really act like I'm too good from everyone else? Please tell me the truth, Jack. As a friend."

He wanted to answer as best as he could, so he considered what she asked for a moment. "No," he said, having and epiphany. "Not at all, Tooth. You always put yourself last, after everyone else. You care so much about the children you serve and-," he got silent and thought what he would say next, "Y'know, the yetis told me what you said after I got kicked out," he smiled, "It's impossible for you to judge someone based on something as stupid as 'status' or their clothes. You stood up for me, Tooth. For _me. _I'm about as low on the totem pole as you can get."

"On the contrary, Jack. You're a really cool person." She smiled at him with her well-taken-care-of teeth.

"What would you have done if I would have said yes?" Jack asked her curiously.

Tooth rubbed her arm and sighed. "I would have probably run away and lived in some jungle far away from here and try to forget this life I'm living now. Maybe that would knock some sense into me."

"Then it's a good thing I said no – which is the truth – because I never want you to forget this life. Any of it. Ever. The world needs more people – fairies – like you." He grinned as he turned back toward the fireworks.

It was hard not to smile around Jack. Tooth had come to accept that fact. They both thought that each other were beautiful people. So this is what it is like to have a true friend. One who wasn't out to get anything from you, but simply, genuinely enjoys your company.

"So," Tooth said, "Know any good jokes?"

"Do I? Well, this could take all night."

"We've got time."

* * *

**Note: And there you have it! A nice, long chapter for you all! Sorry I couldn't get this out sooner. I have big plans for 'The 12 Days of Christmas' as well! This story has about one chapter of life left. :) One more thing, this was BARELY proof-read, so if you see any daunting mistakes or really annoying, repetitive, or dumb things that I wrote... PLEASE TELL ME! Thank you for bearing through my slow updating. I'll have apology fanart up once I update '12 Days...'. **


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